Breaking The Chains Biblical Recovery Ministry

Remembering God

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

When the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt from slavery and into the desert to freedom, He gave them commandments and rules to follow. If He hadn’t established boundaries for them, the people would’ve been in danger, walking deep into sin and soon become slaves to sin causing them to lose their freedom. What they could have thought was freedom in doing anything they wanted, in reality would have caused them to be slaves again only this time to sin such as alcohol abuse, sexual immorality, physical and emotional abuse, greed, stealing, etc. So the Lord set up the commandments and rules to guide them so they may fear the LORD as long as they live by keeping all His decrees and commands so they may enjoy a long life.

As we read about everything Moses and the Israelites went through going from slavery to freedom, we see God’s glory in big and small ways. God provided everything for the Israelites from protection from their enemies to food and drink out in the desert. There was nothing too great or to difficult for the Lord to do and all He asked for in return was their love and devotion to Him once in freedom…He only wanted their trust. As we read through the accounts of their journey in the desert, we find that although they were free, they didn’t seem to enjoy that freedom during their trip through the desert because that trip to freedom could be difficult at times. There were things they had to give up in order to be free from slavery. Some were indulgences and at one point in Exodus 16:3, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron about food and even said "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death." There are times when they are not satisfied with what God gives to them and want what others have even if it’s not good for them. This is where 1 Corinthians 10:23 comes in:

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.

This simply means that although things are permitted by law, not all things are good for us and the Lord knew this and therefore set up the commandments and laws for them to follow. But as humans are, the Israelites didn’t always see this and at times fell to rebellion and sin because they wanted what others had although what the others had, although tempting, was not always good for them. God had set the Israelites apart from the other people because they were His chosen people and He loved them but they didn’t always see that.

So the Lord provided manna and quail for the Israelites to eat. As we continue reading the Old Testament regarding the Israelites and all God had done for them, we see various times where they are obedient for so many years, then lapse back into disobedience and sin. In their obedient times the Lord is good and provides everything they need from food and shelter to divine protection. When they lapse into disobedience we see the troubles they go through and how difficult their lives become because they choose to go their own way instead of following God’s way even when they become so blessed with more than others. This is when pride can slip in and we feel we can do it all on our own, forgetting that God is the one who made everything possible for us.

How many times have you done this? How many times have you been diligent in your prayers to God for something and when you receive it, you become so distracted with what you’ve received that you begin to forget the one who gave it to you by not spending time with Him anymore or praying less. We can become prideful and feel we can do things on our own or that we can do what we want and still be covered by God. This way of thinking proved wrong with the Israelites and it proved wrong with King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. We see in verses 4-5 where Uzziah did right in the eyes of the Lord when he first became King and God gave him success:

He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.

In verse 15 it talks about his fame:

His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.

But, as time went on, we see in verses 16-21 where pride and disrespect of the Lord was a downfall of King Uzziah and how God took care of it:

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God."

 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD's temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him.

King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house —leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

The example we see with King Uzziah is that when we follow the Lord and do what he wants us to do, He will bless us immensely and provide for us. However, once we allow pride to set in and begin taking advantage of God and His goodness and allow thoughts of our own importance to cloud our judgment, we show disrespect to the Lord in our words and actions. As with any parent, we will be disciplined.

Christ stressed the importance of loving God with our whole being and called it the most important commandment in Mark 12:28-30:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

When we love God with our whole being, we put Him first in every situation and don’t take advantage of His goodness. Loving God and obeying His commandments will not only enable us to enjoy a long life but will keep our hearts humble.

No matter how blessed we are and how much we have, be it small or big, we must never lose sight of the one who gave it to us and we must love God with our whole heart, soul and strength. We must never forget the One who gave it all to us…the Lord our God.

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